Habitats - Jungles ep

If you recall the phase of indie music embracing a tropical, dancey stance, you’ll probably be glad it was the briefest of phases. Peppered with charming comparisons, it’s little wonder that this doesn’t come with a voucher for Topman.

Habitats are full of confidence on this EP, telling tales of nightclub dancing and the streets. It’s a bizarre mixture of sunshine bass and guitar with dark evening lyrics - like watching students parade through the city centre in December wearing nothing but a fluorescent tutu.

‘Float Together’ sounds like early Empire of the Sun, and the album becomes an unbearable mish-mash of all the things which made people turn their backs on guitar bands. A quick, jaunty collection of four songs, nothing stands out, making the EP only offensive in its overall blandness.

There are plenty of “woos” and gang vocals, chanting the sort of things which didn’t make sense back then and make less sense now. There is nothing clever about any of this, surely leaving a tart taste in the mouth of any successful indie band they get compared with.

Overall, a lack of grit, variety and depth make this a passable group of songs - you’ve heard worse stuff but it’s hard to like something so sharply aimed at a particular demographic.